How does memory and truth create meaning in our lives?

Graffiti wall touches on some themes

 Born in Austin, Minnesota, in  Credits his library-board-member father and his elementary teacher mother with fostering his love for books and his belief in the power of stories to tell truths  Majored in political science: He became active in campus politics and was elected president of the student body during his senior year  As the Vietnam War escalated during O'Brien's college years, he took part in some minor anti-war demonstrations, but those demonstrations were not yet of the intensity of the protests that would soon rock college campuses  Drafted and sent to Vietnam in 1969: He served a 13-month tour of duty, during which he earned a Purple Heart, a Bronze Star (for rescuing a wounded comrade under fire), and the Combat Infantry Badge  After his discharge from the Army, O'Brien studied American military intervention at Harvard, worked as a journalist for The Washington Post, and continued writing about his war experiences, which he had begun to do while still in Vietnam.

 Video

 self-reflexivity: reflecting one's own self, having an image or reflection of one's self  "fictional writing which self-consciously and systematically draws attention to its status as an artifact in order to pose questions about the relationship between fiction and reality“ (Waugh)  "a borderline discourse, a kind of writing which places itself on the border between fiction and criticism, which takes the border as its subject“ (Currie)

Although characteristics of metafiction vary as widely as the spectrum of technique used within them, a pattern of several common traits can be traced. These techniques often appear in combination, but also can appear singularly. Metafiction often employs intertextual references and allusions by  * examining fictional systems * incorporating aspects of both theory and criticism * creating biographies of imaginary writers * presenting and discussing fictional works of an imaginary character

Authors of metafiction often violate narrative levels by  * intruding to comment on writing * involving his or herself with fictional characters * directly addressing the reader * openly questioning how narrative assumptions and conventions transform and filter reality, trying to ultimately prove that no singular truths or meanings exist

Metafiction also uses unconventional and experimental techniques by  * rejecting conventional plot * refusing to attempt to become "real life" * subverting conventions to transform 'reality' into a highly suspect concept * flaunting and exaggerating foundations of their instability (Waugh 5) * displaying reflexivity (the dimension present in all literary texts and also central to all literary analysis, a function which enables the reader to understand the processes by which he or she reads the world as a text)

 Paradoxes, juxtapositions  Narrative Techniques 1 st person, 3 rd person, reliable?  Genres fiction, non-fiction, autobiography, memoir, and short story  Repetition  Imagery  Symbolism (characters, events)

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